Weekly Market Bullets

for the week ending 2/6/2026

• US Equity Markets experienced significant volatility last week but ended with only a mild decline,as fears that AI would disrupt software firms resulted in heavy selling within Technology. After being down sharply, the S&P 500 only closed down 0.1% for the week and is now up 1.3% for the year. The Nasdaq tumbled 1.8% for the week, erasing its gains for the year, now down 0.9% for the year, while the Russell 2000 (small cap stocks) continued to outperform, up 2.2% for the week and now up 7.6% for the year.

• Global Equity Markets were mixed last week, as central banks in Europe kept interest rates unchanged. Developed Markets were up 0.6% for the week and are now up 5.3% for the year. Emerging Markets fell 1.4% for the week to bring their gains for the year to 7.3%.

• US Interest Rates fell last week given the rising volatility in the equity markets. The yield on the US 10-Year Treasury closed the week at 4.20% vs. 4.26% the prior week. Investors continue to expect the Fed to cut rates two times in 2026, with the first 0.25% cut occurring in June.

• More data show a "not hiring, not firing" job market. The Job Openings & Labor Turnover (JOLTS) report for December came out last week, showing 6.54 million job openings, its lowest level since September 2020. The Job Openings Rate, which is the percentage of all jobs that were open and actively recruiting fell to 3.9% in December, which is one of the weakest readings outside of the pandemic era. At the same time, initial weekly jobless claims came in at 231K, a historically healthy level, showing firms are generally maintaining their employees.

Market Data

for the week ending 2/6/2026